The Best Laid Plans of Sirius
by shoret
Summary: Sirius is tired of seeing Lily say no to James so Sirius tries to help out behind their backs. Unfortunately, Sirius' help leads to a lot of problems. JP/LE and a little FL/AL Cover art link in my profile! Complete!
1. Sirius Intervenes

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

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Sirius Intervenes

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"I hate you, James Potter!" Lily quickly bent down to pick up her fallen books while glaring at the smirking boy above her. "Does it make you feel good about yourself being an arse to everyone? I would have thought by sixth year you would've matured a little."

James bent down to help Lily gather her books. "It was an accident, Lily, calm down." Lily continued to glare at him. "What? I didn't do it on purpose. Do you really think I would knock you over on purpose if I was going to ask you out?" James scoffed as Lily groaned.

"I'm not going out with you, Potter."

James' face fell for a split second before his constant smile returned. "I haven't asked you yet, love."

Lily blew a strand of curly red hair out of her face. "I'm just saving you the effort." She smiled politely at James before commanding him to, "Leave me alone before I have to take points away from Gryffindor."

"That is a gross misuse of power," James commented dryly.

James and Lily were standing face to face now. "It's been a long day. I'm tired. I just want to got to the common room, ok? So can you PLEASE leave me alone?"

James eyed Lily carefully. She did look exhausted. Finally he nodded. "Ok. Here let me carry your books for you."

James' hands reached for Lily's books, but she drew them in to herself. "I'll carry them myself, Potter," she spat as she walked away.

"Loosen up, Evans, I was just trying to be nice," James yelled as she stormed away. James made his way back to the common room at a normal person pace so he arrived a few minutes later than the angry redheaded speed walker.

Upon entering James immediately went over to join Sirius who was flipping through a magazine on the couch. "Hey, Prongs, did you know that the Minister was spotted leaving that male strip club, Wizard's Wand? Think it's true?"

James shrugged as he sat next to his best mate. He saw the magazine in Sirius' hands then frowned. "Since when do you read anything other than PlayWizard?"

Sirius flipped the page. "I don't read PlayWizard; I look at the pictures." Sirius shot James a sly grin. Then looked back at the magazine. "So do you think it's true?"

"Dunno. Does it really matter?" He glanced over at Sirius, who was staring intently at the magazine. "Why? Are you against the gays?"

Sirius threw James a look of annoyance. "'Course not. If a man wants to make it with another man that's his business, I just feel bad for the guys at Wizard's Wand. Our minister may be a good guy and all but I wouldn't want to have to shag that."

James laughed as Sirius gave a small shudder. "Think about shagging guys often, Padfoot?"

Sirius looked up at James and smiled. "You don't need to worry about my sexuality. I get more than you do." Sirius went back to his magazine while James laughed. "Speaking of getting some, or your lack of ability at getting any, the lovely Lils stormed in earlier mutter about you. I think you should just give up on her already."

James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I honestly don't understand her. I was trying to be polite today and she was still unresponsive."

Sirius finally put down his magazine and turned toward James. "Why do you even like her? I get that she's hot; I have eyes, but there are hotter girls that you could get. You do realize that Ava has been pining after you for the last month right?"

"Yeah I know, but I'm not into her," James made a face of disgust, "besides didn't you hook up with her last year?"

Sirius nodded as a wide small stole over his features. "Oh yeah she is amazing. I almost regret ending it with her, but that's neither here nor there. So what's so special about, Evans." He draped his arm along the back of the couch waiting for James to tell him what he liked so much about Lily. James was obviously lost in thought. His hazel eyes were troubled behind his rimless glasses. When Sirius couldn't take his friend's silence anymore he spoke. "Just move on, mate. Trust me on this. She can't be worth all of this."

James sighed then got up from the couch. "You're right. I'm going to go up to the room. Wanna join me?"

"Naw, I'm good." James nodded then headed up the stairs. Sirius watched James go. Usually James was in a great mood; Lily wasn't fair to him. Sirius didn't like seeing his friend so upset so he got up from the couch and moved to the chair right at the bottom of the stairs to confront Lily whenever she decided to come down and get her magazine that Sirius had 'accidently' taken from her. James was his best mate and if James wanted Lily then Sirius would make it happen no matter what. Blacks weren't exactly known for their moral scruples or judgment on right of wrong so when he said no matter what he meant it.

Sirius positioned himself so that his legs were in the girls' stairwell causing anyone who came down the stairs to either ask him to move his legs or trip over him. Sirius laughed realizing that Lily would probably prefer to trip rather than ask him to move.

A few hours passed and Sirius was still sitting on the chair glaring at the stairs. Lily hadn't come down yet. What could she possibly be doing up there? It was right annoying! Five girls had gone up the stairs and three had come down but no Lily. A small second year approached the stairs and Sirius growled at her. "Again? You're going back up the stairs? Listen twerp you need to pick one: up or down."

The little black haired girl stuck her tongue out at Sirius. "Why don't you just move out from the front of the stairs. I can do what I want, so there!" She finished her statement by stomping on Sirius' foot.

Sirius stood up and towered over the little girl who glared right back up at him when Remus spoke. "Sirius what are you doing?"

Sirius and the brown eyed monster in front of him didn't break eye contact. "I'm about to skin a second year. What are you doing Remus?" Sirius spoke as if he were having a conversation about the weather.

Remus rolled his eyes and then spoke to the soon to be filleted second year. "Why don't you run upstairs while I talk to Sirius ok?"

Her head bobbed up and down before she dashed up the stairs a few seconds later she ran halfway down the stairs and stuck her tongue out at Sirius again. Sirius lunged at the tan twelve year old. "Why you little-" Sirius was cut off by Remus dragging him away from the girl's stairs.

Remus turned Sirius so that his back was toward the stairs. "Padfoot, you alright?"

Sirius kept trying to look over his shoulder at the stairs. "Nothing." Remus cocked his head to the side. "I mean I'm fine." Sirius spoke between clenched teeth angry that he hadn't had a chance to talk to Lily yet.

Remus shook Sirius lightly to get his attention. "So you just threaten to kill second years on a daily basis?"

Sirius sulked a bit. "I didn't threaten to kill her. Besides she deserved it. Do you know she went up and down those stairs? Seven times in the last three hours. Seven times!"

"So?"

"So? So! She was doing it just to bother me and Evans still hasn't" Sirius snapped his mouth shut.

Remus looked at Sirius with suspicion. "Why were you waiting for Lily, Padfoot?" Sirius just shook his head. "What are you up to Sirius?"

Again Sirius shook his head. "I'm not up to anything Remus. You need to have a little more faith in me. Honestly, why would I be waiting for Evans? You have an over active imagination." Sirius smiled innocently at Remus and forced out a small chuckle. "Oh, man I didn't realize how tired I was I think I'm gunna go up to our room." Sirius quickly ran up the stairs to the boys' room before Remus could say anything else. He would have to confront Lily some other time when Remus wasn't around. It wouldn't do any good for James or Remus to find out about his plan, they would just try and stop him. Soon Lily would be with James and then he wouldn't have to see James mope about anymore and everything could go back to normal. It really was a perfect plan. How hard could it be to get Lily to go out with James?

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A/N: This is my new James/Lily chapter fic. I hope you like the first chapter. BTW 'the gays' is not meant offensively. That is just how gay people are referred to in England. You will hear the term 'the gays' used in many British works such as "The Office" and "Death at a Funeral". The next chapter will probably be up in a week or two. Please tell me what you think because a motivated writer is a faster writer. : )


	2. Confronting Ms Evans

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

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Confronting Ms. Evans

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Sirius' plan to corner and confront Lily wasn't working out as well as he hoped. After the failure last night, when Lily refused to come down the girl's staircase where he was waiting, Sirius decided that he would wake up early and talk to her in the Great Hall before everyone came down for breakfast. He over-slept. He over-slept so much that he was late for his first class and therefore didn't get to talk to Lily before class at all. Then when class ended Prof. Slughorn wanted to talk to Sirius. He ended up having to run to Charms without getting a chance to give Lily a piece of his mind. The whole day had just been one missed opportunity after another. By the end of the day Sirius was so fed up with all of the following and close-encounters that he resumed his spot in front of the girls' stairway but Prof. McGonagall put an end to that quickly. Apparently someone had complained to her so she had come up to the common room and told him to stop making a nuisance of himself, as if he was just playing around and not in the midst of a serious assignment. Now Sirius sat on the couch in the common room pretending to read his Charm's spell book. Remus was supposed to patrol with Lily tonight, but Sirius had worked it out so that he would be taking Remus' place. Remus would forgive him … eventually.

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Remus came up behind Sirius and put a hand on his shoulder. "You ok, padfoot?" Sirius flinched in surprise. "You seem a little tense."

"I'm fine," Sirius snarled never taking his eyes off of the girl's staircase.

Remus followed Sirius' gaze to the stairs and plopped down on the couch next to him. "You're not doing this again are you?"

"It's none of your business."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Listen, I have patrol with Lily tonight whatever you need to say to her I can pass along while we are on patrol together."

Sirius looked at Remus as a wicked smile crept onto his face. Remus looked back at him warily. "Really?" Sirius paused and Remus could see the wheels of his brain turning a mile a minute. "That's helpful."

"What-" Remus never got to finish his question because the next moment he was paralyzed on the floor.

Sirius gently floated Remus up the boys' stairs and put him in his bed. "I'm really sorry about this, Moony, but I promise that I'll take off the jinx as soon as I'm done talking to Lily." Remus glared at Sirius. "Don't look at me like that. This is a matter of life or death," Sirius smirked at that, "well sort of. It's all for a good cause, I promise."

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Sirius jumped up from the couch as soon as Lily entered the common room. He was by her side in three strides. "You all ready to go on patrol, Evans?"

"Yeah, but where's Remus?"

Sirius draped his arm around her shoulders and herded her towards the portrait hole as she tried to locate Remus in the common room. "He wasn't feeling to well so he decided to go to bed early. I'm taking his place."

Lily stopped just short of the exit causing Sirius to curse under his breathe. He had been so close. "I can go by myself." She gingerly picked up his hand and removed it from her shoulder. "Thanks."

Sirius smiled politely at Lily, "Its ok. I want to go." Sirius practically shoved Lily out the door. "Really."

They had been walking in silence for a good fifteen minutes when Sirius decided to bring up James, "You are one hard girl to get alone Evans. Trust me I know, I've been trying." Lily took a step away from Sirius. "Not in a creepy, I want to get you alone so I can attack you way," Sirius quickly added seeing Lily's discomfort. Small talk wasn't working very well so Sirius decided to switch tactics and be blunt instead. Sirius put his hand on Lily's arm to get her to stop walking. "Stop fucking around with James."

Lily turned to Sirius in surprise and defensive anger. "Excuse me?"

Sirius matched her steely gaze. "You heard me. Stop treating him like shit. He doesn't deserve it." Sirius started walking away from Lily. "If you gave him even half a chance you would see how great he is."

Lily half stomped half ran to catch up with Sirius. "Great? You've got to be kidding me. He is worse than most of Slytherin. He acts just as entitled and bigoted as any other pure-blood family."

Sirius stopped enraged. His voice was icy as he spoke, "You don't know what you're talking about, Evans. You can't even begin to grasp what it is like to be in a dark arts centric family. The Potters are the farthest thing from entitled or bigoted I know. I would watch what I said about them if I were you."

Lily faced him. She spoke clearly and slowly so that Sirius would hear every word. "Potter is just as bad as Malfoy."

Sirius slowly closed the distance between them. He hid his smirk as he saw Lily take a half step back. "I meant what I said Evans. If you're not going to give James a chance then you better stop giving him shit." Sirius leaned slightly forward so that he was completely crowding Lily's space. "I come from one of those really dark families, Evans, and I'm not afraid to hurt someone who deserves it no matter what gender they are."

Lily's voice hitched a little as she spoke. "What are you trying to say?"

Sirius smiled at Lily. "That James would make for a fun date. I think were done here, see you around, Evans."

Sirius walked off leaving a rattled Lily to finish patrolling by herself.

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Sirius strode happily back towards his room from the kitchens. His talk with Lily had made him a little peckish. He hoped that he had gotten his message across. No one messed with his best friends. Lily would either open her eyes and realize that James was one of the best guys around or she would stop stomping all over him. Either outcome was better than the current situation.

Sirius entered the boys' dorm whistling. Just as he revived Remus James burst into the room, "What did you say to Lily, Sirius?"

Sirius' eyes widened. He hadn't counted on the third outcome of his encounter: Lily telling James what happened. Remus rubbed his sore limbs. "Yeah and while you're sharing why don't you explain to me why I just spent an hour and a half under a full body bind."

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A/N: Here is the second chapter and it is really early. I didn't think I would have a chance to write it until after my birthday on Sunday, but I did. I'm turning 20, how old! As always R&R. Tell me what you think of my Sirius. Oh, just FYI, James/Lily interactionin the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	3. New Ideas

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

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New Ideas

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Lily stood in shocked stillness even after Sirius was out of sight. He had definitely just threatened her. Shivers of fear raced across her skin as she remembered the brutal sincerity in his eyes when he said he had no problem hurting her. Black had always made her uncomfortable but he had never scared her before. Lily jumped about a foot in the air and let out a very undignified scream when a hand came down on her shoulder. Acting out of instinct Lily spun around and hit her assailant in the throat.

James chocked as Lily's fist connected with the soft unprotected skin of his throat. "What the hell?" He rasped out between coughs.

Lily's hands were at his neck before she realized what she was doing. "Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you, actually I did, well not you per se, but I didn't mean to hit you in the throat it's just that I was all weird because Black threatened me and…"

Rambling was one of Lily's most endearing traits to James. She would start to ramble whenever she was nervous or excited. As Lily continued to rush through her explanation James' grin got wider until he heard her mention Sirius. "Wait, my Black? Sirius Black threatened you?

Lily, still suffering from her run in with Sirius, spilled to James. "Yeah, he forced his way into patrolling with me and then he starts talking about how I'm a horrible person and that he will hurt me if I don't-" Lily suddenly cut off as she realized that she was talking to James.

James stared at her intently waiting for her to finish. "Well…"

"Nothing"

"No finish what you were saying. What did Sirius say?"

Lily just shook her head whipping her red curls around. Her eyes widened as James went to reach for her. "No. It's not important. I can deal with it myself." Lily rushed away down the hall. "I need to be getting back to patrolling."

"Lily wait." James raced to catch up to her. "Whatever he said I'm sure he didn't mean it."

Lily dismissively waved her hand. "Of course. You just found me while I was still flustered." Lily composed herself and then leveled a not quite sincere glare at James before continuing on with her patrol.

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James climbed the stairs to the boys' dorm in a furious rage. He burst into the room to find Sirius sitting on Remus' bed with a groggy Remus. "What did you say to Lily, Sirius?" James asked through clenched teeth in a controlled voice

Even from his position at the door James saw Sirius' eyes widen, a clear sign of his guilt. James saw Remus rub his sore limbs adding, "Yeah and while you're sharing why don't you explain to me why I just spent an hour and a half under a full body bind."

James and Remus both stared at Sirius waiting. "Ok. It's not as bad as it sounds. I just had to have a talk with her-"

James angrily cut in. "You mean threaten her. She looked terrified."

"Good!" Sirius got off the bed and stood in front of James. "Someone needed to talk to her. You wouldn't believe some of the shite she believes."

By now James and Sirius were face to face shouting at each other. "She thinks your going to kill her or something. I swear to Merlin you are the worst friend anyone could have. How am I supposed to get her to date me, let alone like me, if she thinks that my best friend and I are psychos who want to maim her?"

Sirius' eyes completely iced over when James called him the worst friend he had, but James was too angry to care. "She's never going to get together with you, you unbearable twat. She hates you. She thinks you're as bad as Malfoy, James." Sirius looked James up and down with disgust before he spat out, "Have some self respect and get over her: she'll date Snape long before she even considers dating you."

James stormed out of the room before Sirius could say anything else. "I don't need this shite," He said as he slammed the door shut. He wouldn't let on to anyone, especially Sirius, that the fact that Lily thought he was just like the Slytherins really hurt him. Sure he picked on her a lot and made jokes at her expense, but he was never cruel.

Just as James was about to exit the common room Lily entered, "Move."

Lily looked up at James in surprise at being addressed so harshly. She crossed her arms and said, "Why don't you learn some manners, Potter. I thought coming from your background you would at least know how to say 'please'."

James had finally had enough the anger and guilt he felt from his fight with Sirius, the pain of Lily thinking he was cruel, and now more hostility being directed his way made him snap. He put on his most pompous expression and sneered down at her. "We reserve the use of manners for those that deserve them."

Lily's hand connected solidly with the side of James' face. James had never been this dismissive and demeaning to anyone. "What the hell is the matter with you, Potter? This isn't like you."

"How do you know what I'm like? I thought I was just as bad as Malfoy to you?"

Lily gasped. She had never intended James to hear that. "I-I didn't mean that." James tried to push past her and out of the portrait hole, but she stopped him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a furious Sirius making his way down the stairs. Under her breathe she said, "I wish Black hadn't told you that."

James let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Because you don't want to have to put up with me?"

Lily shook her head, eyes wide, "No, because I didn't mean it." The tension in James still didn't leave. Lily could feel his muscles flex under her fingers and she saw the slight tick in his jaw. She then looked over to the darkened boy's stairway where she could clearly see a brooding Sirius. She lowered her voice and asked, "James what happened with you and Sirius?"

James looked down at her when she said his name. He wasn't use to hearing it from her. His hand traced the curve of her round face and the delicate column of her neck. He had never seen her look at him with compassion before and he realized that she was only treating him this way because she felt guilty. She didn't actually care that he was hurting it was just that she had caused the hurt and she couldn't stand to hurt anyone. "Don't worry about it." James left without a backward glance leaving a very confused Lily and very observant Sirius in his wake.

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Once James exited the common room Sirius came fully down the stairs and headed for the portrait hole only to be intercepted by an angry red Lily. "How could you tell him what I told you? I thought you were his friend. You should have known how much that would have hurt him."

Sirius totally brushed past her murmuring, "You said it, sweetheart." As he turned around to close the portrait he saw the anguish written on Lily's face. She may try to hide it but Sirius knew for sure now that Lily had feelings for James. Sirius just needed someway to bring them out. Sirius headed off to the library to create his new plan of attack and let James cool off. Plan one had been a huge failure, but plan two would be better. It had to be, right?

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A/N: The third chapter is up! Yay. ::looks around and sees angry faces:: I'm sorry that everyone was fighting and mad this chapter, but there is a reason for it. I promise. Big big thanks to everyone who is reading my story and to RLD Flame-point Callie-co who gave me the inspiration for the "psychos" part. (In other words blame her for James and Sirius fighting. JK! She is totally innocent. Lol. Unfortunately my muse wanted fights and lots of them. We are all slaves to our muses.) As always I am going to ask that you press that pretty button right under this. ; )


	4. Outside Help

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

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Outside Help

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Remus was still stretching out his sore limbs when someone started pounding on his door. Before he could even move towards the door it was flung open. "Remus. Remus?" Lily looked at each bed before finally spotting Remus on his in the corner. "Oh thank Merlin. I'm sorry to just burst in when you're not feeling well but-"

"I'm feeling fine. I'm a little sore but that's about-"

"Wait, you mean, that you aren't sick? That lying bastard. First he tricks me then he tells Potter all of those things I said. I am going to kill him. I swear I will tear his insufferable head from his equally insufferable body."

Remus got up and grabbed Lily's shoulders to stop her from pacing. "Who are you talking about?"

"Black," Lily snarled.

"Oh." Remus led Lily to his bed and sat her down on it. He sat next to her and said, "Yeah, he has been up to something lately."

Lily laughed sarcastically. "Really? You don't say?" She dropped her head into her hands and continued, "He is messing everything up."

"What did he do? I mean I know about his talk with you, but I don't think that that would mess anything up."

Lily sighed. "It's not that. I said some things while I was arguing with Black. I didn't mean them or anything I just said them because I was angry and then HE repeated them and now Black and James are fighting and I feel horrible. They never fight and I kind of caused it and I just feel so awfully guilty."

Remus was quiet and took in everything that Lily was saying. "So you did say … those things."

Lily nodded her head dejectedly. "I'm awful aren't I?"

Remus laughed and hugged Lily to him. "No, you're not awful. A little hot headed at times, but not awful." Lily laughed. "Trust me when I say that you didn't ruin James and Sirius' friendship. They get into little tiffs every once in a while, but they always get over it. They're like brothers; nothing can get between them, not even you so don't worry."

Lily bit her lip. "Are you sure?" Remus nodded. "Okay. Well since you're obviously not sick and I have nothing to do right now do you want to go get some hot chocolate? I know it's your favorite and I could use something warm, so what do you say?"

Remus stood up and pulled Lily to her feet. "As if I would say no? Let's go."

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James made it all the way to the Quidditch pitch before he had worked off most of his anger. He honestly didn't understand why it was so hard to get Evans to even be civil with him. He was a good guy. He was smart, funny, and almost everyone else liked him. He just didn't get it. What about him was so repulsive to Lily? James was brought out of his own musings by the solid thunk of feet hitting the ground.

James looked up to find Nikolette Scott, a chaser on the Gryffindor team, dismount her broom. She walked over to James with her long even strides and sat down next to him. "Hey, cap'n."

James looked over Nikki. When you were talking to Nikki it was hard to remember that she was a girl because she acted so much like one of the guys, but once you looked at her it was apparent that she was not a boy. She was almost the direct opposite of Lily. While Lily was almost as tall as James Nikki stood almost a head shorter than him and where as Lily had a willowy frame that belonged to a ballerina, Nikki was given the shape of an hourglass. The only thing they had in common was that they both had green eyes, although Lily's were a bright emerald green where as Nikki's were more of a mossy green. James and Nikki sat in silence for a while just taking in the smell of crisp autumn air and the freshly cut grass. The pitch always made James more comfortable. "You're a girl, right?"

Nikki laughed at James question. "Last time I checked."

James nodded thoughtfully. "What do you want when it comes to a guy?"

"What? Why?"

James looked over at Nikki and read the confusion on her face. "I'm all out of ideas on how to get Lily to go out with me and you're a girl so I figured you'd have some secret trick or something."

"A secret trick? No sorry. I don't think there's a secret trick that suddenly makes all girls fall in love with you." Nikki put her hand companionably on James' leg. "If you want my honest advice, cap'n, here it is: move on. If she doesn't see that you are an amazing catch than she's not going to. I personally think that once you stop showing her attention she'll realize that she likes you, although I could be wrong. I'm not very good at reading people."

James shook his head. "I don't want to give up."

"Then don't. Think about it for a few days, yeah? Then once you have thought it over decide what you want to do, but you need to get over her."

James scoffed. "You would agree with Padfoot."

Nikki's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Sirius talked to you about this?"

James' head fell forward. "Yelled would be a better verb, but yeah."

Nikki grimaced a little. "That doesn't sound too pleasant."

James laughed. "It wasn't."

"Don't beat yourself up over this stuff, James. If it's meant to happen it will. Have faith. I'm going to go hit the showers: are you cool?"

James waved her away. "Yeah, I'm fine." Nikki started walking away as James called out to her. "Oh and Nikki if you stretch your legs out behind you in that dive you were practicing you'll have more control. Just be sure to grip the broom with your ankles."

Nikki smiled at James. "Thanks, cap'n," she said before jogging to the locker room.

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Sirius cursed as another book gave him absolutely no ideas on how to get Lily to stop being such a twit. "Mr. Black, refrain from uses such profanities in my library or I shall be forced to throw you out."

Mrs. Pince was the new librarian at Hogwarts. She had just graduated a few years earlier and was already back. She was a mousy little blonde who loved books more than people, but she was a good librarian. She normal stayed out of the students' way and was easily mollified. However she had been hovering around Sirius since he began to toss books around and showed no sign of leaving him alone. "Sorry, I just can't seem to find anything useful here."

Mrs. Pince huffed in indignation. "I assure you that there is a book here for you, it just takes assistance to find. What kind of book are you looking for?"

Sirius scratched the back of his head. "I don't rightly know, actually."

"Well, what are you trying to do with the information?"

Sirius quickly scrambled to find a good excuse that explained why he needed a book that made people act out there secret thoughts. "Well … umm … You see Mrs. Pince, I have a problem. I … um … I can't express my feelings, yeah that's it, and I was hoping that there was a spell or something that could help me out."

Mrs. Pince smiled warmly at Sirius. "That is wonderful, Mr. Black. I find that young men do have a problem admitting there inside emotions. You need to be looking in the self-help section."

"We have a self-help section?"

Mrs. Pince looked outraged. "Of course we do!"

"I didn't mean it like that." Sirius quickly backpedaled, "I just meant that it was surprising that your library, here, has enough room for all of the wonderful books we have now and a self-help section. I don't think that the Ministry library has this big of a selection and variety of books."

Mrs. Pince blushed at Sirius' statement and led him to the self-help section. "Here we are. Now the best books for what you're talking about are probably either _Feelings: How to Express Myself for Squibs _or Professor Will D. Abandon's book. He is from the Salem Institute and he is amazing. I would recommend his book, _Unleash Yourself: Incantations to Set You Free_, if you are looking for incantations and spells. _Feelings_ is more about meditation and non-magical easy to follow steps."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Pince, if it weren't for you I would have never found this," Sirius said as he grabbed the sleek leather binding of _Unleash Yourself_.

Mrs. Pince smiled in satisfaction. "It was nothing. Now normally you need permission from your head of house to check out that book but I'll let it pass this time since it is apparent that you are trying to change your ways."

Sirius smiled at the little librarian. "Thank you again, this will be very useful," with that said he walked out of the library and headed for the dungeons. He went down to a few corridors and then turned right down a dead end passage. At the end of the passage was a portrait of his great-great-grandfather, Phineas Black. Sirius approached the portrait and said clearly, "Isla." The portrait swung to the side to reveal Phineas' secret chamber. The chamber was basically a secret bed room that Phineas used when he was Headmaster of Hogwarts. It was his haven where he didn't have to put on any airs or be anything, but himself. Sirius had been surprised when he realized that it did the same for him.

Sirius walked in the room turned left and placed his recently acquired book on the table in front of him when he heard someone speak from behind him. "I was wondering when you'd get here. I expected you sooner, to be honest."

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A/N: Here is the fourth chapter FINALLY! I totally dropped the ball this time. It took me hella days to update this chapter. The next chapter will hopefully be up this weekend or mid next week. Tell me what you think about Nikki. Do you want to see more of her? Reviews equal love.


	5. New Plan

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

TBLPoS

New Plan

TBLPoS

Sirius put his palms on the old wooden table and closed his eyes. "You know," he started as he turned around to face the intruder, "I didn't tell you about this room so you could come here whenever you felt like it."

Nikki got up from the bed and sat down in the chair across from Sirius. "I know, but cap'n told me what you were up to so I decided to stop by." She grabbed for the book as she said, "You can stand there and glare all you want I'm not leaving until you tell me what you're doing."

Sirius sighed and reluctantly sat down. "You do realize that you don't have to call him captain all the time, right?"

Sirius reached across the short table and reclaimed his book as Nikki started to talk. "It just seems weird referring to him as anything else." Nikki bit her bottom lip in thought. "Maybe if we hung out besides Quidditch then – hey I was looking at that."

Sirius raised his eyebrow. "I'm sorry this is my book-"

"The library's book."

"Fine. The book _I_ checked out from the library and this is _my_ room so _I_ get to read it first."

Nikki raised her hands in surrender. "Fine. Fine. Whatever."

Nikki sat quietly while Sirius started to read for all of twenty seconds then she started to tap her foot. After that she got up and started wandering around. Then not even five minutes after pacing the small space she started to hum. "Ok, Merlin, you win. We'll both look at it as long as you shut the bloody hell up. Pull your chair around."

Nikki smiled and pulled her chair so it was right next to Sirius', "So what kind of spell are you looking for?"

Sirius let out another suffering sigh. "Bugger it all, you don't quit do you? I mean you really can't be quiet can you?"

"All I did was ask a question. What's up your hiney-hole?"

"Nothing I'm just frustrated is all. Trying to set up James and Evans is a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be so I haven't had anytime time to do anything for me. I haven't even had a decent snog in the last two weeks due to that stupid bet with Remus and now this." Sirius looked so dejected and sad that Nikki started laughing at him. "Oh go ahead laugh it up. Guess who's officially not helping anymore."

"Sirius … I'm sor … sor … sorry. I don't mean … to … laugh … but it's just … just … too funny," Nikki managed to get out between laughs before she slipped out of her chair and onto the floor.

Sirius glared down at her with his arms crossed waiting for her to calm down. As her giggles turned into faint shaky breathes he spoke, "Done?" Nikki nodded and stretched her arm out for Sirius to help her up. He looked at her hand then down at her. "Am I supposed to help up? So you laugh at my suffering and sacrificing and then you want my help. I see. I get it."

Nikki grabbed Sirius' hand and stood up. "Thanks now let's get to work shall we?" They had been looking through the book for only a few minutes before Sirius started to loose focus. She had seen this all happen before so she knew the signs well. The first sign of a bored Sirius Black was that he would start to play with the corner of the page. Next he would tap his fingers lightly on the table. Third he would lean back in his chair with his hands behind his head and look around the room for something to do. After that is when things would go down hill because if Sirius didn't find anything to do then he would pull out his wand … and that is never a good thing. Sirius had just leaned back in his chair when Nikki decided to pull his attention back. Fortunately for her she knew what could capture Sirius' attention the fastest: good old-fashion hormones.

Nikki straddled Sirius' chair and kissed him. Her first kiss was slow and shallow followed by two quick nips to his lower lip. Sirius didn't need anymore encouragement after that. His hands were in her hair before their mouths met again. He took control of the next kiss capturing her bottom lip between his as her hands slid from his shoulders to around his neck. His tongue sweep across her lips asking permission to enter. A soft moan vibrated through her as he entered her mouth. Once their breathing became irregular and heavy she pulled away. "I'll make a deal with you. We'll finish that once we find what you are looking for in the book ok?" Nikki proposed as she sat back in her chair. She looked over at Sirius who was still a little confused. "Brad and I broke up today," she said in explanation for her actions.

Sirius nodded. It was a well kept secret that Sirius and Nikki would hook-up. They were friends and they both had needs. That was all. So if they were both single than they would have each other. No harm, no foul: just friends helping friends, but Sirius still felt like he needed to know why she had broken up with Brad, not that beaking up with Brad was bad. Sirius thought Nikki was too good for him to begin with. "So why did you break up with the shagger? Not that I care or anything just-" Sirius kept his eyes clued to the book as he asked the question.

It took her a while to answer so Sirius looked over at Nikki to find her with her face scrunched up in thought. "He broke up with me actually."

That shocked Sirius, "Why?"

Nikki laughed a little and covered her face with her hand. "This is gunna sound so stupid," she said more to herself than him. "Because I wouldn't sleep with him. Don't look at me like that. I wasn't comfortable enough with him to actually do it so yeah …" she trailed off weakly.

Sirius was grinning at her like a cat that just drank all the crème. "You don't have to lie to me Nikki. Tell the truth: it's 'cause you only want to be with me, haw?"

Nikki pushed Sirius. "Oh shut upp and get back to work. Which of these sounds best: Lively Libido, Unchaining the Heart, Ruling Right and Wrong, or Inhibiting your Inhibitions?"

"Hmmm. I dunno. Unchaining the Heart sounds stupid and girlie. I don't see how Ruling Right and Wrong applies. What is Lively Libido?"

"Umm. I dunno let's see … page 334," Nikki flipped to the page, "Ok. This one will curb your sexual … Oh we don't want that. Looks like Inhibiting your Inhibitions it is."

"Ok, but what does it do?" Sirius asked as he pulled Nikki onto his lap.

"Well," she started as he kissed a trail along her neck. "it makes you loose your inhibitions. Kinda like when you're drunk I'd guess."

"Perfect." Sirius murr murred in as his mouth found the spot behind her ear that made her whimper.

"I think you need that Lively Libido thing." Nikki mumbled somewhat breathlessly.

Sirius smiled against her cheek, "Not when I have you here, pet."

TBLPoS

James walked to the kitchens after his time on the pitch. He had stayed there long after Nikki had left just taking it all in. He realized that he was acting like a lovesick loser over Lily but it was hard not to when he wanted her so badly. At the pitch James decided that he would still go after Lily but he wouldn't be as desperate as he was being this year. James couldn't help but feel a bit of desperation; this was their second to last year at Hogwarts. He was only going to get a few more opportunities. He had to make all of them count.

He ran his hand through his hair out of habit as he walked into the kitchen. The first thing he heard was laughter coming from around the corner. As James followed the noise he saw Lily and Remus at one of the small tables off to the side of the larger house table replicas. Lily stopped laughing as soon as she saw James. He approached the table and stood at Remus' shoulder. "Don't stop your conversation on my account." James said even though Lily stayed quiet.

As James was talking a house elf came up to take his order. "What would master James want, sir?" The house elf's large eyes didn't blink as she concentrated on James' face.

"I'll have Cocoa and biscuits, like them, please."

Minci, the house elf, nodded emphatically causing her ears to flap back and forth. "Yes, master James, sir Minci will bring it right away."

James smiled as the house elf ran off and turned back to the table. "Can I sit down or is this a private table?"

Remus answered the question, even though James never took his eyes off Lily. "Of course you can, James. Right Lily?"

Lily blinked, breaking her connection with James, and looked at Remus in slight confusion as if her brain were two steps behind the conversation. "Oh, sure, yeah. Take a seat there's plenty of room," she said although it sounded as if she only said it to be polite.

The group had been talking for about fifteen minutes when Remus stood up from the table and stretched. "I should be getting back to my room I'm pretty beat. I'll see you both tomorrow." He waved a casual hand through the air as he exited the kitchen.

"So …" Lily started lamely as she traced the wood grain on the table.

"Yeah." James responded equally lamely. They sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds before James spoke again. "Hey do you want to try the best hot chocolate in the world?"

Lily's first reaction was to say no and leave the kitchen, but she was interested. "How do you know it's the best?"

James shrugged. "Personal opinion, I guess." James saw Lily's interest weaken so he added, "It comes with the perfect amount of homemade whipped cream that melts a little into the drink, which is just the perfect temperature. The Cocoa doesn't burn your mouth at all, but it is still hot enough to warm your insides. Best of all is the flavor, it's not sicklingly chocolately like most fancy places or wanna-be chocolataries make it." James could tell that he almost had Lily. One more push and she would agree without hesitation. James stood up came around the table with his lopsided grin firmly in place and offered her his hand. "C'mon, Lily, a little mischief never hurt anyone."

Lily smiled up at James as she took his hand. "Ok."

TBLPoS

A/N: Can you guess where the best hot chocolate is? Free one-shot of your choice for whoever gets it right lol. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm off to class but I thought I should post this before I left soooo here you go. Oh I almost forgot ... review review review hahaha!


	6. Midnight Mischief

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

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Midnight Mischief

TBLPoS

James' fingers wrapped around Lily's hand. "C'mon. Let's go."

James dragged Lily out of the kitchen by the hand. "Where are we going?" James just kept walking. "James? Where are we going?"

James slowed his pace a little and turned to her with a smile. "You'll see."

Lily giggled at James. She hated to admit it, but she was having fun. James had been just a normal guy tonight. He hadn't asked her out or done anything jerky at all. It surprised her how relaxed and laid back he was. She always thought that James was the type of guy who always had to be the center of attention and have things his way, but seeing him interact with Remus in the kitchens showed her a new side of him. Lily was pulled out of thoughts when they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "The common room?"

James shook his head while his eyes sparkling with laughter and delight. "Nope."

Lily looked confused. "But-"

"No questions. Be patient."

Lily nodded as they entered the common room. James led her directly to the bottom of the boy's staircase and started to climb them. Lily jerked to a stop at the stairs. "I'm not going up there," she stated firmly.

James looked down at her confused. "Why not?"

"Why not? Because it is against the rules. Besides what if someone sees me?"

James laughed as he approached her again. He grabbed her wrist and started back up the stairs dragging Lily with him. "No one will see you. Relax a little, Evans."

"Seeing as how I'm about to be in your room I guess its okay for you to call me Lily."

James looked at Lily in slight shock causing her to blush. "No one will see you, Lily." Lily nodded and they continued up the staircase. They approached the seventh year boy's dorm door before James talked again. "Okay, Lils, I'm going to go in first and see if anyone is up."

Lily nodded then added, "Don't call me Lils."

"Too soon?" Lily nodded. "Thought it might be. Oh well." James shrugged his shoulders entered the room and was gone. Lily waited outside for a few seconds before James' messy head of hair reemerged from behind the door. "It's cool."

Lily entered the room on her tip toes. She quickly scanned the room for any sign of life and was relieved to discover that all she could hear were snores. James showed her over to his bed and started rifling through some boxes he had under it. Lily gingerly sat on the bed and looked around. She expected the boys' room to be a complete mess, but it was surprisingly clean. Hell, it looked cleaner than her own room after a Hogsmeade weekend.

James continued to rifle through the box he was in until he came across a small tin and two cups. "Here it is. Once you taste this all other hot chocolates will pale in comparison."

Lily laughed and then put her hand over her mouth to muffle the noise. "Shh," she said to James while moving a finger in front of her mouth. "Don't talk too loud or you'll wake them up."

James' hand cut through the air. "Naw, they can sleep through anything. We only have to worry about when Sirius is coming back."

"Sirius isn't here yet?" Lily tensed with worry. What if Sirius walked in to find her on James' bed? What if he thought that it was a date thing? What if he woke up everyone?

James read the slight panic in Lily's gaze and said, "Hey don't worry. We'll shut the curtains so he thinks I'm asleep. Sirius knows better than to bother us while we're sleeping." James moved onto the bed with Lily and handed her the cups while he shut the curtains. "Better?"

Lily's answer was a smile. She handed his cup back to him and looked down into her own. "This isn't hot chocolate."

James laughed at her. "Not yet. My dad took the recipe we make at home and made it travelable." James took out his wand did a few swishes over her glass and presto instant hot chocolate. "Go ahead, try it."

Lily took a cautious first sip as James turned his powder into hot chocolate as well. "Wow!" Lily was lost for words. This really was the best hot chocolate she had ever tasted. The chocolate wasn't overpowering, yet at the same time it offered a nice punch of chocolate-y goodness. The temperature was also perfect. The liquid was warm, not room temperature or scolding, just perfectly warm. "This is amazing. Where did your dad get the recipe from?"

"It's been in the family for years. Wanna learn how to make it?"

"Are you sure? I mean it's a family recipe and all are you sure you want to give it to me?"

James rolled his eyes at Lily. "I trust that you aren't going to use the recipe for anything other than drinking so it really doesn't matter."

Lily lit up as she took another drink. "Okay then teach me."

"I can't teach you here. Why don't we meet tomorrow after classes get out for the weekend and I'll teach you how to make it in the Room of Requirements?" James laughed at the excitement on Lily's face.

"Okay." Lily took another sip of the hot chocolate and did what James would later refer to as a happy chocolate dance. She brought up her shoulders and wiggled around while mmming at the flavor. It was adorable. "Does you're mom make hot chocolate this good too?"

James laughed at Lily's innocent question, "Merlin, no, my mom isn't allowed near the kitchen anymore after she caught the oatmeal on fire."

"I didn't know oatmeal was flammable."

"Neither did I. After that dad nicely told her that she was an incredible witch, but she couldn't cook and he would be forced to stop her if she ever tried again."

The conversation moved on from there. They talked about Lily's family and then Lily's friends followed closely by the Marauders. Conversation just flowed between the two of them and Lily had to admit to herself that she liked James. How could she not like someone who was so caring and animated when it came to his family and best friends. She had never once gotten along with the Marauders, yet when she saw their adventures through James' eyes she couldn't help but want to be there.

The hot chocolate cups had been empty for quite a while before Lily moved to get off the bed. When she finally did, she peeked out of the curtains to make sure no one was coming then looked back to say good-bye to James. "I had a surprisingly great time. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

James smiled from his reclined position on the bed, "Of course."

Lily hesitated a moment longer before leaving, "Bye." And she was gone.

BLPoS

Sirius kissed the top of Nikki's head as she started to wake up. "Hello, love, glad you could join us."

Nikki smiled up at Sirius before stretching and curling back up into a ball. "How long was I out?" She rubbed her hand over her eyes trying to get the sleep out.

"A few hours. Ready to do the spell?" Sirius jumped out of bed and walked over to the table completely naked. "Well aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on a minute." Nikki followed Sirius to the table in the bed sheet and sat down on his lap. She flipped open the book to the right page and started reading. "Okay it says that it will take three hours to work so it should kick in right before she wakes up. Now all we have to do … actually _you_ have to do is say the incantation three times. Think you can handle that?"

"Can I handle that? You realize you are speaking to the Sirius Black, right?"

Nikki kissed Sirius' neck as he said the incantation three times aloud. "Do you think we're doing the right thing, I mean what if we really mess up their lives?"

Sirius stared down at Nikki in his arms. "I think we are. We're just trying to help them and it's a little too late to stop it so …"

Nikki smiled up at him, "Yeah you're right. They need a little push. Besides how many things is Lily not acting on? What is the worst that could happen; Lily is a responsible even keel girl it can't get to bad, right?"

TBLPoS

A/N: I am sooo sorry that it took me this long to update. Normally I update weekly or biweekly, but I was super late this time. I had the worst case of writer's block which my one-shot, Doldrums, cured so check it out. A big thanks to everyone who is still with me even after my absince and congrats to Sirius' Sweetheart and (LoOk. Up. InSaNiTy. AnD. u. SeE. mE) for good guessing. The fanfic prize is Madera so check that out if you haven't seen it already. Again sorry for the wait. I hope you find this chapter worth it. : )


	7. A Different Lily

DISCLAIMER:Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

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A Different Lily

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Beep beep beep. Lily's alarm went off at seven like it did every morning. Any moment Lily would hit the off button and grudgingly get out of the warm cocoon she had made for herself. She would then grab her uniform and bathroom bag and be ready to go to breakfast at seven twenty. She would use the ten minutes before breakfast to check her homework. She would eat a sensible breakfast instead of the glazed pastries that seemed to get more and more appetizing with every bite of oatmeal she took. She wouldn't dally after she ate like the rest of her classmates. She would be the first at the door to her class. This had been her routine since her first day at Hogwarts so it came as a surprise when seven oh five rolled around and Lily remained fast asleep. In fact all that could be seen of the sixth year prefect was her arm dangling off of the bed and her alarm clock knocked onto the floor. Seven came and went and still Lily slept.

Lily's roommate Nikki was the polar opposite of Lily when it came to her morning schedule. Nikki was use to waking up to an empty dorm room, rushing through her morning rituals, and then shoving a few bites of whatever into her mouth as she sat at the house tables talking for longer that she should. She was usually one of the last to enter the classroom. So when Nikki woke up at seven thirty to find a sleeping Lily she knew Sirius' spell had worked. "Lily … Lily it's time to get up. Lily it's seven thirty."

Two emerald green eyes opened slowly and blinked a few times before they seemed to take in their surroundings. Lily jerked awake and started running around the room collecting things.

Nikki's eyes widened as she took in Lily's frantic behavior. Feeling sympathy toward the redhead Nikki grabbed Lily by the shoulders and said, "Calm down." Nikki watched as Lily took a few deep breathes. "Are you okay now?"

Lily looked down confused as she answered, "Surprisingly, yes. I should be freaking out … but I'm not." Lily's nose wrinkled slightly as she shrugged her shoulders, "Weird."

"Well best not think on it," Nikki said quickly changing the subject in case Lily somehow managed to find out about Sirius' spell. "I'm starving let's hurry so we can eat."

Nikki and Lily had kept up a constant stream of chatter on their way to the great hall when suddenly Lily said, "Why did you wake me up when you don't like me?" Lily looked like the question surprised her as much if not more than Nikki. Lily turned scarlet as she apologized, "I'm so sorry. You don't have to answer that."

Nikki came to a halt in front of the Great Hall and laughed. Lily looked beyond horrified. "I don't not like you, Lily. Hell I don't even know you, but from what I've seen of you so far I like."

Lily smiled as they started walking again. "Sorry, I just assumed … I mean I know that the other girls in our room have a problem with me, except for Alice of course."

"They're just jealous, you know, because a certain Quidditch captain only has eyes for you."

Lily blushed and shushed Nikki as they seated themselves next to the Marauders. James looked surprised to see Lily next to him. Lily simply smiled then burst into quiet giggles with Nikki. "Alright, Evans? Nikki?"

"Oh we're fine, James. Lily here just … ow what was that for Lily?"

Everyone looked questioningly over at Lily who quickly shoved a pastry into her mouth and motioned that she couldn't talk.

A loud bark of laughter escaped from Sirius, "You're alright Evans. I never knew you were this funny."

"I'm mot mormally," she said with her mouth full. Sirius just smiled wider at this.

James was staring strangely at Lily but before he could comment Alice ran up to Lily and monopolized her attention. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Lily you will never believe-" Alice suddenly stopped talking and took in her surroundings. "Lily, why are you sitting with these guys?"

Lily looked around in confusion again. "I'm not sure. Would you believe me if I said I just felt like it?" Remembering that Alice hadn't woken her up this morning when she had overslept Lily asked, "Hey, why didn't you wake me up this morning?"

Alice looked shyly at the rapt interest on their audiences faces then whispered to Lily, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about … privately."

"Okay." Lily got up from the table and started walking away then stopped and turned back, "You coming Nikki?"

Nikki looked questioningly at Sirius. They shared a small private moment quickly before Nikki turned back to Lily. "Sure. See you in class boys."

BLPoS

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked into Professor Slughorn's class as the bell was ringing only to discover that Lily, Alice, and Nikki weren't there yet. James slowed to a stop with Sirius as Peter and Remus settled at an unoccupied worktable. "Do you think Lily has been a little weird today, Sirius? I mean look," James gestured to the class that Lily was very noticeably absent from, "Lily's never late. Ever."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right but Alice looked like she had something important to say so maybe they just got caught up."

"And what was with Lily and Nikki being all buddy buddy?"

"I dunno, mate. I'm not good at understanding women, you know that. It's probably some stupid lady thing." The two boys moved to take their seats. "I'm gunna sit with Whitmore today."

"Nikki?" James examined Sirius for a minute before his facial expression turned disapproving. "You're not trying to hook-up with her are you because with the both of you on the team and everything I don't think it's a good idea. Besides I think she can do better."

Sirius looked offended. "Better than me?"

"Than a womanizing dog? Yeah, I think she can."

Sirius pushed James and headed to his seat as Nikki, Lily, and Alice slipped into the room. Sirius was about to call Nikki over to his table when Lily stepped in front of her and headed straight for James Potter's potion table. The usual pre-potion chatter quieted to a murr-murr as Lily turned to talk to James. "Hi James, aren't you excited about today's lesson?"

James stared in shock for a moment before he could answer, "Umm … I'm not sure, should I be?"

The class began to return to normal as they waited for the professor to arrive. Lily seemed affronted that James didn't know today's lesson. "How could you not know that today is the day we learn about Amortentia?"

"You're excited about that?"

"You aren't?" James shook his head causing Lily to look incredulous, "I don't believe that. You cannot honestly say that you aren't interested in smelling what you are most attracted to."

James had yet to answer when Professor Slughorn came in, "Good day class, Ms. Evans – Oh!" Professor Slughorn looked quickly between James and Lily before smiling cheekily at Lily, "I hope you won't be focused on anything other than your potion today, Ms. Evans, although it appears like you'll have you hands full." Slughorn winked at Lily before continuing on with the class.

Lily ducked her head in embarrassment. "That's mortifying."

James laid his head on the desk as Slughorn continued with the instructions. "It's alright, one time Madame Hooch walked into the boy's locker room while I was in the shower, saw me completely starkers. Now that was right embarrassing."

Lily giggled then turned back to listen to Slughorn. James and Lily drifted into silence as the class proceeded. James was sure that something was wrong with Lily. Lily was never this relaxed. It bothered him a little. He was happy that she was more open and relaxed around him, but it just seemed kind of … off because Lily wouldn't behave like this. James brushed off Lily's bizarre behavior as he started working on his potion. He wouldn't admit it to Lily but he was kind of excited to find out what the potion would smell like to him.

James and Lily didn't really speak much for the majority of the class; in fact, the majority of the class didn't speak as they all tried to brew Amortentia. James thought that this would be an easy potion to make, after all a fourth year Ravenclaw spiked Remus' pumpkin juice with it last year. James was wrong. He had very nearly ruined his potion twice and literally held his breathe as he inserted the Erumpent horn. James sighed with relief as he finished his potion. He looked over at Lily to see if she was done yet only to find her nose practically touching her potion as she smelt it. She leaned back in her chair looking confused so James asked, "What does yours smell like?"

Lily smiled, an out of place care free smile, and took another whiff of her potion. "It smells like rosewood, the Hogwart's Library, and-"

"What does the Hogwart's Library even smell like? Musty, dusty, parchment?"

Lily looked at James with what he would latter describe as pity. "Of course it doesn't. How could you think that?" James smiled seeing Lily so passionate about the library hoping she would continue on her little rant. "Besides the smell of the books themselves there is the smell of the lemon wood polish used to clean the tables and the faint hint of orchid that comes from Madame Pince's desk. The books themselves don't just smell of must and parchment. They also contain a hint of ink that leaves a slight sting in your nose. It is the smell of knowledge and experience. Of new lives and fantastic adventures. Even the manner in which we are to conduct ourselves in the library is special, everyone whisper in small little groups. It's magical."

James stared at Lily with wide eyes for a moment before composing himself. "Wow, I didn't know you thought about the library that much." James saw Lily's face fall and immediately tried to back-peddle, "It's not a bad thing. I think it's cool that you are into your own thing. You even had me thinking about giving the whole book thing another chance." Lily brightened up at his words so James pushed farther, "Did you smell anything else?"

Lily got the same look of confusion on her face as before, "I don't know what it is really … it smells kind of like warmth. Does that make sense? Probably not … hmmm … it's like if you were laying on the grass in summer with the sun warming your skin. If you closed your eyes and inhaled that is what the smell reminds me of." Lily let a nervous chuckle slip past her lips. "Oh Merlin I must sound mental."

"No I get it. I smelt a campfire in mine from my summer trips with my friends and when I smelt the campfire it brought all of those memories back."

"What else did you smell?"

"I smelt jasmine and … detergent? I think."

"Detergent? Like for washing clothes?"

James grinned and leaned close to Lily. "Yeah. Weird, right? Thing is I don't even know why I'm smelling washing soap."

Lily was about to answer when an arm wrapped in the smell of James' detergent scent fell onto his shoulder. "Prongs, mate, you'll never guess-"

James cut Sirius off. "It's you! Why am I smelling you?"

Sirius seemed confused for a moment before he burst into laughter. "I knew you always had a thing for me Prongsie. It is unfortunate that this had to come out know that I live with you. I only want …"

James tuned Sirius out and tried to understand why he smelt Sirius in his potion. "Hey!" James tugged on Sirius' shirt. "This is my shirt."

Sirius looked down then back up at James. "Oh yeah all of mine are dirty and this one still smelt like your mom's laundry, which by the way is one of the smells I have in my potion and …"

Lily's laughter cut Sirius off. James turned his wide eyes from Sirius to Lily as a disgruntled Sirius watched Lily dissolve into giggles. "You two are hilarious, do you know that? I swear, the looks on James' face when he thought he smelt you and then you," the rest of her words were lost in giggles.

Sirius patted James on the back, "Right, well when the bird's start loosin' it I leave."

Lily was quieting herself as James turned back to her. "I'm glad you found that amusing."

"Highly."

James smiled at Lily and Lily smiled back. Again James was hit by the feeling that this wasn't right. He felt like something was off. He had been steadily collecting every little out of character thing she did today and it seemed that it was all too much to be "some girl thing" or whatever Sirius said. "I couldn't believe that I got to class before you today."

"I know me too, but Alice had to tell me that her and Frank spent their first night together last night and," Lily froze in horror, "Oh no I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Please don't say anything, okay?"

James smiled at Lily. "Don't worry. I'm a good secret keeper."

Professor Slughorn called the class to attention and then dismissed everyone who had completed their potion and delivered a vile to his desk. Lily and James both got up to turn in their potion. Lily handed hers to the professor first and then turned to James as he handed his to Slughorn. "I'll see you tonight for my cooking lesson."

And with a wave she was gone leaving an extremely excited, terribly confused James Potter in her wake.

BLPoS

A/N: I have finally updated. I know that I have been slacking, but this story has given me problems. I will try to have the next chapter up in two weeks. Please tell me what you think. Here is the title of the next chapter is Mistakes. That is the only spoiler I will give about the next chapter.


	8. Mistakes

DISCLAIMER:Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

BLPoS

Mistakes

BLPoS

It was the end of the day and James was more and more convinced that Lily wasn't herself. He decided it was time to bring it up to Sirius on the way to dinner. Sirius was good at reading women, or at least he claimed to be. They were a corridor away from the Great Hall when James finally brought it up. James grabbed Sirius' arm to slow him down and began to speak, "Are you sure you didn't notice anything off with Lily today?"

Sirius came to a halt with a sigh. "There's nothing wrong with her, mate. You're working yourself into a fit over the girl."

"You're taking the mic, right? She was late to two of her three classes. She has been happy and smiley to me all day. She hasn't once defamed my character or anything."

"Defamed? What are you … who says defamed?"

"All I'm saying is that something strange is going on. Aren't you the least bit interested in this?"

"Honestly? No, I'm not. Why can't you just be happy that she is into you?" Sirius started to walk down the hallway leaving James behind. "You think you could just accept a gift when you see one."

James looked sharply at Sirius' retreating back, "What did you say?"

Sirius turned back to face James. "What?"

James eyed Sirius closely. "Why aren't you interested in this Padfoot? You would normally be all about getting to the bottom of a mystery."

"This isn't a mystery James! She is into you. Don't question it. Can't you just thank me and move on?"

James and Sirius seemed to realize what Sirius said at the same time because both of their eyes went wide, James' in understanding and Sirius" in horror. "I knew you were involved with this! Figures you would pull something. You better hope that this doesn't ruin my chances with Lily."

"Now you wait a bloody minute. You don't even know if I really did it and if I did do it you should be thanking me on your hands and knees. You're a real piece of work you know that, right? You realize that you're attacking your best friend over some bint who couldn't care less about you?"

James let out an angry exhale, "I've been your best friend since day one: I know when you're responsible for something and you are responsible for this. Just tell me what you did." Sirius started to answer, but James cut him off. "You know what I don't care. Just tell me how to reverse it." Sirius again went to speak, but snapped his mouth shut. "Well go ahead. Don't be shy now. You were so helpful a minute ago." Sirius mumbled something under his breath that James couldn't quite hear. "What?"

Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets and met James' hostile gaze. "Even if I did know what was wrong with Lily I wouldn't necessarily know how to fix it."

James' face turned red with anger and he spoke through gritted teeth. "What do you mean Sirius?"

Sirius scratched the back of his neck as he said, "Well I may not exactly know how to fix it."

"You have got to be kidding me." James looked Sirius up and down, "Oh Merlin you're serious. How could you not know how to fix this? This is just like you. How could you be so irresponsible? I should have known you would bring me nothing but trouble."

"Fine. I'll find the reverse spell or something and put her back to her same boring, James-hating self."

"So you admit it! You did this."

"Yes!" Sirius yelled. "I did it for you, okay. I just wanted to help you. You should have seen yourself. It was pathetic the way you were moping around. I just wanted you to be the old James again. That's what friends do."

"Well I never asked for your help and I don't want your friendship anymore."

Sirius visibly recoiled as if he was slapped. "I see." He straightened his robe around himself and turned on his heel.

James took a few angry breathes before yelling at Sirius' back. "I want her back to normal, Black."

Sirius didn't respond.

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James decided not to eat dinner after his argument with Sirius. This was just like Sirius. James was finally making progress with Lily and Sirius had to come ruin everything. If Lily found out that something was done to her she would never believe that he didn't tell Sirius to do it. James just had to make sure that Lily didn't find out about any of this. He just had to hope that Sirius could fix it before she did anything to out of character. The common room was quiet and warm when James entered. He contemplated whether he should go upstairs a take a nap or try to get some studying done by the fire, before choosing to study. He read fifteen pages of his charms text before falling asleep on the couch.

James slept comfortably on the couch until he was shaken back into consciousness. He sat up a little too fast causing the blood to rush from his head in his haste to see who had awoken him. Lily stood in front of him lit by the dying fire behind her. "What time is it?" James asked taking in the deserted common room and dark winter sky.

Lily smiled impishly down at him, "A little past midnight. Are you ready for our date?"

James frowned before remembering that he had said he was going to teach Lily how to make hot chocolate. James laughed as he got up, "I thought this wasn't a date?" Lily's face fell as James started walking to the portrait hole. He was about to exit when he turned to her and said, "Besides, on our first date, I'm going to take you someplace really special. Well, aren't you coming?"

Lily quickly got up to follow James, smile once again present, "Where would we go?"

"I can't ruin the surprise. You'll just have to be there."

Lily gently grabbed James' hand when she caught up to him as if it were the most natural thing for her to do, "Well when is it?"

James looked down at Lily, "Are you saying you want to go on a date?"

Lily swung his hand playfully. "Sure looks that way, doesn't it?"

James smiled, "Alright, then. Next Saturday is a Hogsmeade visit. Let's make it for then."

"Are we going to Hogsmeade?"

James stopped and paced in front of the room of requirement as he answered Lily's question, "Nope." Upon seeing her look of confusion he elaborated, "For where we are going its better if we have the castle to ourselves."

James opened the newly appeared door and motioned for Lily to enter. As they stepped into the room Lily's breath caught, "This is beautiful." They were standing in a cozy sage green kitchen. The cabinets and wood furnishing were all a rich cherry wood and the counters were done in dark granite. "Did you imagine this?"

James grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the table. "Naw," he said while taking a bite, "this is what my kitchen looks like. So are you ready to start cooking?"

"Sure." James went over how to make the hot chocolate with Lily a few times before she tried it herself. The first couple of batches had to be thrown out, but she finally got it. Lily and James moved harmoniously around the kitchen as they finished making the final batch of hot chocolate. Lily turned off the heat and handed James the ladle, "Try it for me?"

James took a cautious slurp before nodding at Lily, "Tastes perfect." James poured the hot chocolate into the two waiting cups. Then the room suddenly changed. The kitchen was replaced by a crackling fire in a massive brick fireplace and a cozy maroon love seat. "Did you think of this?"

Lily nodded over the rim of her cup, "You can't drink coco without a fire."

James laughed as he settled onto the couch next to Lily, "How could I forget?"

Lily rested her head on James' shoulder, "It's okay. I forgive you." They sat in a comfortable silence for a while just watching the fire before Lily said in a sleepy voice, "If this was our first date, this would have been a pretty good one."

"I'll keep that in mind for next Saturday." James checked his watch to see that it was just past three in the morning, "You ready to head back?"

Lily met James' eyes then looked down. "Do you think we could stay for just a bit longer?"

James pulled Lily back to him as he settled into the couch again, "We can stay as long as you like."

Lily yawned into his chest before closing her eyes and saying, "If I wasn't careful I could fall right in love with you."

James smiled into Lily's hair, "Would that be so bad?"

Lily nodded, "Mm-hmm, especially since I swore to hate you forever." James' only reply was a soft chuckle.

BLPoS

A/N: Here is the new chapter. Please tell me what you think. There will probably only be a few more chapters (two or three) including the epilogue.


	9. Breaking News

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

TBLPoS

Breaking News

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Nikki woke up to an empty dorm room which was normal. She was use to the sight of four rumpled beds greeting her as she struggled to get out of her oasis of sheets, however today was different. Only three of the beds ere unmade. Lily's bed remained pristine, the quilted cream comforter tuck smoothly under the maroon flannel sheet at the plumped pillows. It appeared as if no one had slept there. 'Well, maybe she made her bed,' Nikki thought, but that didn't make sense because no one in the room ever made their beds- not after first year when Alice came into the dorm room to find a sobbing house elf. Apparently, the little creature was distraught about having nothing to do in the room, so Lily mustn't have come to bed last night.

Nikki threw on some clothes quickly while trying to guess where Lily could be. She brushed her teeth in record breaking time and was out the door not five minutes after waking. She felt responsible for Lily's decisions being the one who found the spell and all. Nikki was about to descend the stairwell when she wisely remembered to mess up Lil's covers. It wouldn't do to have another crying house elf in the room or anyone else notice Lily's unmade bed … if they hadn't already.

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Lily hunched her shoulders forward trying to stretch out her back as she woke up. Her muscles were tight and twinged when she moved, the price paid for falling asleep on a couch. She blinked a few times before scrunching up her face and wiping the dust from her eyes. The room of requirements only contained the still burning fire and loveseat she had fallen asleep on. James slept silently next to her; his head flopped back onto the junction of the back and the arm. Lily slipped out from under his arm that lay across her shoulder and grabbed her shoes before making her way quietly to the door. She wasn't ready to deal with the aftermath of her actions. How was she to have a conversation about her feelings when she didn't even understand them fully herself? How odd it was to think you have someone all figured out only to realize you are completely wrong? Well not completely. Lily leaned against the wall outside the tapestry hiding the room of requirements to put on her shoes when Alice walked up.

"Well, well, well guess I don't have to ask why you didn't come to bed last night. Seems like you found somewhere else to sleep," Alice taunted smiling. "Or not sleep," she added deviously as she stood in front of Lily. "And who is it that has Ms. Evans smiling so?"

"Oh stop!" Lily retorted laughing, "I'm not smiling and even if I was it wouldn't be anyone's business so there." For added effect and because Lily was feeling surprisingly giddy she stuck her tongue out at Alice before walking towards the great hall.

"Are you really gunna make you best mate guess?" Alice asked pouting for Lily's entertainment.

Lily pulled Alice behind a set of velvet curtains that enclosed a private window seat. "Ok, promise not to tell anyone," Lily waited for Alice's ready nod, "it was James."

Alice looked confused for a second, "James Potter?" Lily threw Alice a look that clearly said 'duh'. "But I didn't even know you liked him. I thought you hated him. Don't we still hate him?"

Lily laughed and hugged her best friend, "I don't know honestly. I feel so confused. I mean I thought that I did hate him. I thought he was … well all these horrible things-"

"A liar, manipulator, someone who doesn't care about others, egotistical, pigheaded, and juvenile," Alice supplied restating Lily's previous grievances with James.

"Well, yeah." Lily blushed, but continued, "I don't know. I think I was wrong about him. I got to know him a little and he's nothing like I thought."

"How did you even get to know him? Was it yesterday in class?"

"The other night I was with Remus in the kitchen when James entered and joined us. When I saw him with just him, Remus, and me he wasn't showing off or anything and I just … I dunno kinda say him from a different light and then I went to his room and-"

"Wait you went to is room," Alice cut in too excited to wait, "How come you didn't tell me?" She leaned forward and whispered, "What did you guys do?"

"Not anything nearly as exciting as your thinking, but I feel like I really got to know him and then yesterday I just went for it I guess. I wasn't worried about what anyone thought I just wanted to get to know him better."

Lily tapered off into silence forcing Alice to press her to continue, "And?"

"And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I like James Potter and I have a date with him this Saturday."

"Are you sure?" Alice questioned.

Lily nodded after a brief pause, "Yeah, I think I am."

The smile on Lily's face told Alice enough. She reached across the seat and hugged Lily before standing. "Let's go to breakfast."

"I can't I have to run up to Gryffindor tower first to get my books. Go ahead without me. No use both of us missing breakfast."

"I'll grab you a scone," Alice said as she walked in the opposite direction as Lily.

"You're the best," Lily said over her shoulder as she ran to her room.

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Sirius was pacing back and forth off to the side of the entry way. He needed to talk to Nikki, but he couldn't find her. She wasn't in the Great Hall or in their first class, and he didn't have the map to locate her. Peter had needed it last night to see a girl in Hufflepuff and Sirius hadn't seen him since. Sirius just hoped that once he did manage to speak with Nikki she would know how to reverse the spell. Then he could change Lily back to her boring old self and be done with James Potter once and for all. If the dumb sod wanted to make himself miserable again far be it from Sirius to stand in his way. He was pulled out of his brooding by a familiar head of brown hair. "Whitmore," Sirius called getting Nikki's attention, "come here."

"What's up?" Nikki questioned as she approached Sirius in a more hidden section of the entry way that was secluded from the rest of the hall allowing for private conversation as long as no one was in the secret shortcut from the fourth floor girls restroom to the painting of Laudine, the Lady of the Fountain.

"Do you know how to reverse the spell?" Sirius asked immediately.

"You can't reverse it. Why do you want to reverse it? I thought you wanted Lily to loosen up?"

Sirius folded his arms over his chest and snorted, "I do, but James managed to figure it out and basically threw a fit and ended our friendship so … I don't really give a fuck anymore. I'm just going to figure out how to undo the spell we put on Lily like James said and be-" Sirius was cut off mid sentence by a forcible blow to the back of the head as the painting swung open.

BLPoS

A/N: This chapter is for my mom on Mother's Day. I am finally writing this chapter because I know how anxious you have been to see what happens. ; p Hope you like it. : )


	10. And It Hits the Fan

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

TBLPoS

And It Hits the Fan

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"You cast a spell on me!" Lily yelled in outrage as she came hurtling out of the secret passageway.

Sirius approached Lily cautiously while rubbing his head, "Now Lily let me explain-"

Lily shifted her eyes to Sirius briefly spitting out, "I have nothing to say to you, Black, I'm not surprised that you would try something like this." Lily then looked back at her original target, "But you, how could you?" Lily's eyes started welling with tears setting the green ablaze in a cold fire. "I trusted you. I told you things and this whole time you were tampering with me." She choked back a sob and continued in a quiet voice, "I thought you were my friend."

"I am your friend," Nikki started.

Lily quickly interrupted her, "No you're not. You wouldn't do that to a friend; you shouldn't do that to anyone."

"You're right. I wasn't your friend then, but I am now and I want to be."

"We," Sirius tried to interject before both Lily and Nikki shut him down. He stared on silently as the two girls went back and forth flinging emotions messily at each other. Lily was crying and stray strands of hair were sticking to the wet lines on her face. Nikki was also crying, that shocked Sirius. He had never seen her cry before. Her green eyes were wide and pleading with Lily and her lips were moving furiously trying to explain her action as Lily resolutely refused to hear what Nikki had to say. He was surprised at the power this scene held over him. For the first time he felt some guilt about messing with Lily. He may not have liked her at all, but he didn't want to hurt her.

"I don't want to hear it anymore!" Lily screamed breaking Sirius out of his thoughts. "You're both manipulative horrible liars. You may want to be my friend, but I don't want to be yours. How dare you mess with my mind. How dare you!"

"That wasn't the intent-" Nikki kept trying to say.

"Then what was the intent? To make me get close to some guy that I hate? To get a laugh out at poor nerdy Lily? Why would you play with my feelings like this?"

"Lily … I didn't … think," Lily scoffed at Nikki's admission. "I know that that sounds stupid but it's true. I didn't think about you. I thought about James and Sirius. I didn't think it would do any harm. No listen, please … I know I was wrong, but I didn't mean to hurt you. I just wanted you to give James a chance. If I could take it back, Merlin help me, I would."

"Well you can't," Lily spat eyes cold and narrow.

"I know," Nikki said dejectedly. "Not that it means anything, but the spell only lasted for twenty-four hours and it didn't change you thoughts or anything like that it just released your inhibitions. I can give you the spell book if you want so you can see it. I want to make this right."

"I'll take the book, but I don't want to be your friend anymore," with that said Lily walked silently away.

Sirius exhaled a breath that he didn't realize he had been holding. He knew why people used the metaphor of a tornado to describe emotions because he felt like he had been battered by hundred mile per hour winds. He looked from Nikki's stricken face to Lily's diminishing form wordlessly before breaking into a sprint after Lily. When he was close enough for her to hear him he said loudly, "James didn't know. You can hate us as long as you want, but James didn't know anything about it so don't hold it against him."

Lily continued walking away as if she had never heard him.

TBLPoS

After finishing classes and retrieving the library book from Sirius' room Nikki headed up to the girl's dorm room, which she hoped was empty. She opened the door to a silent room. Walking over to Lily's nightstand, Nikki placed the book on the table and stared at the tightly closed curtains around the bed. The curtain moved slightly revealing Lily's presence. Nikki stood indecisively for a few seconds before whispering, "Lily," in a voice that shook a little bit, "are you in there? I wanted you to know that we cast the spell at three in the morning on the day that Sirius went on patrol with you so …. anything that you did or felt after three am the next day was just you. You weren't under anything then." Nikki listened to the silence for another couple of seconds before adding, "James noticed you were different. I don't know if anyone else did, but James noticed. I just thought you should know." With that said, Nikki left the room.

Behind the closed curtain, Alice stared wide-eyed at Lily whose eyes were red and puffy from crying. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing," Lily said miserably, "it doesn't change what happened."

"Doesn't it?" Alice questioned. "I think it changes everything."

"How does it change anything?"

"Well, there are a few things. First, it doesn't change the fact that you, normal not jinxed you, decided to go on a date with James." Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Alice continued not allowing her to speak, "You agreed to go on a date with James and changed your mind about him during cocoa the night Sirius threatened you and the spell wasn't cast until three the next morning. Secondly you didn't kiss James until the following morning after your date together so you weren't under the spell then either. Thirdly, I think it speaks highly of James that he noticed you were acting differently and figured it all out when even I didn't notice. Sorry about that by the way," Alice added sheepishly at the end of her observations.

The tears in Lily's eyes dried up during Alice's explanation and the very eloquent response she came up with was, "oh…"

"I'll grab the book and we'll see what the spell says," with that Alice slipped her upper half out of the curtains and reemerged seconds later with Dr. Will D. Abandon's book.

TBLPoS

A/N: I finally posted the next chapter. I should have Chapter 11 up within the next two weeks.


	11. A Fresh Start

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

TBLPoS

A Fresh Start

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James sat high above the Quidditch pitch circling slowly on his broom feeling sorry for himself. He had actually made progress with Lily and it wasn't even real. It literally required a love spell to get Lily to consider him as boyfriend material. He realized that Sirius was trying to help, but how could Sirius think that James would want to force Lily to be with him or that he wouldn't feel even worse once the spell wore off and Lily hated him again? The whole situation was completely fucked up and James couldn't see any way to fix it. There was no way that this ended well. Lily would never speak to him again if she found out. He would be too bitter at loosing his chance with Lily and his trust in Sirius to speak to Sirius. He wouldn't even be able to keep his memories of the last few days with Lily because they weren't real. The Lily who liked him was fake. The memories were fake.

James was pulled from his dark thoughts by a ribbon of red whipping around on the grass of the pitch. Upon flying closer to the earth, James discovered that the ribbon was actually Lily's curls being pulled about by the fierce wind. He would've shot back up into the sky if he hadn't made eye contact and could've pretended not to notice her, unfortunately they had locked eyes so he resolutely headed to the solid ground. He knew he needed to tell Lily what was up, but he didn't know if he was ready to handle the fall-out yet.

"I know Sirius cast a spell on me," Lily said bluntly as James landed on the grass.

His hair flew about his face and the setting sun flashed off of his glasses blocking his eyes from view as he asked, "did he reverse it?"

"He told me that you didn't know he did it. Is that true?"

"I didn't know he was going to do it, but I could tell he did something," James said trying to be as honest as he could with Lily ignore the fact that she hadn't answered his question.

"I also heard that you guys aren't speaking right now."

Lily paused after her statement as if waiting for something. After a few strained seconds James said, "we aren't friends anymore," to fill the silence.

"Is it because of me?" Lily asked emotionless. Her face was stiff and void as it had been the whole conversation.

James wasn't sure if Lily was furious or hurt or anything. Her complete control over her emotions scared him a little bit. Lily wasn't usually this closed and controlled. He didn't know what the right answer was so he stuck to the truth, "Yes. I would like to be able to say that I'm not his friend anymore because he would mess with someone's life like that, but that's not true. I might've found it funny if it was someone besides you. I can't be friends with Sirius anymore because every time I think about him all I can think of is the fact that he ruined my chances with you. Even worse, actually, I lost you and now I know how wonderful being with you could be."

Lily stood quietly contemplating him.

Awkwardly James added, "I swear I didn't know about it and I wouldn't condone it. I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore and I won't ask you out again or bother you for the rest of the year. I really am sorry Lily. I didn't mean for you to do anything that you didn't want to do."

"You didn't." Lily looked down at her feet as she began to explain the spell, it's effects, and length, "The spell made me less inhibited, so I didn't really do or say anything that I didn't already want to do or at least think about normally. Furthermore, the spell took effect while I was sleeping the night we were talking in your dorm and ended the next night before we kissed … so those were all things I did as normal me." Lily stopped talking and peeked at James. His eyes were still hidden by the sunset leaving Lily feeling uneasy.

"So do you like me? Like really like me?" James asked.

"I don't know. I think so. I think I do. I'm just confused. This is a lot to take in you know. One day I hate you and then I don't and then I'm jinxed. I … I just don't know," she finished weakly.

James smiled slightly at Lily, "how about we just start over ok? We can grab lunch with Alice sometime since I won't be seeing much of my friends for a while."

"Why wont you see them?"

"It's not fair to make the rest of them choose between me or Sirius."

Lily was silent in thought for a few seconds again, "Alice doesn't think we should be mad at them and … and I don't think we should either."

"Them?" James questioned.

"Nikki and Sirius. They did it together, although it was all Sirius' idea. Alice said that it was obvious that they did the wrong thing but no actual harm came out of it and they were trying to help their friend so… I dunno I think I'm just going to try to forget it." Lily shrugged and looked back up at James, "is that weak of me?"

James smiled down at Lily, "No, I don't think so, but why were Sirius and Nikki working together?"

"I think they're dating," Lily said as they started walking back towards the castle.

"They're what!?"

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Nikki and Sirius were wandering aimlessly down the hall feeling a bit sorry for themselves. It had all turned out so terribly wrong. Sirius had lot his best friend and Nikki had lost her first real female friend. Lily wasn't caddy and bitchy like so many of the girls here were. Lily also wasn't just trying to befriend Nikki because of the fact that she was a connection to James and Sirius. Tears started to fill Nikki's eyes as she came to a stop in a deserted corridor.

"What's wrong love?" Sirius questioned mechanically.

"Us," Nikki choked in a broken whisper, "We're terrible people."

"No we're not-"

"Yes we are," Nikki interjected childishly.

Sirius rolled his eyes slightly at her before putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her to a seated position on the floor, "we had good intentions at least… that has to count for something, right?"

"I guess," Nikki said leaning against the wall and looking to the arched stone ceiling.

"See," Sirius tried to reassure her, "now wipe those tears. It'll get better, I promise."

"It has too, right?"

"Right," Sirius said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Well this is a depressing scene." Sirius and Nikki jumped and the intruder's voice. When they looked down the hall they saw James striding towards them with Lily trailing a little behind. Once James reached them he made the briefest eye contact with Nikki before turning his attention to Sirius. "I need to talk to you, privately."

Sirius nodded slowly coming to his feet. He pushed himself off of the wall headed into the empty classroom across from where Nikki was seated. From her position on the ground she could see the two boys clearly, but they were out of her range of hearing so she looked back at the ceiling to watch the torch light dance along the stone.

"I was always so fascinated by the charm that made each classroom here soundproof; it's quiet ingenious," Lily said as she sat down next to Nikki.

Nikki looked at Lily out of the corner of her eye. Lily was staring at James and Sirius. Nikki decided to do the same and added, "I guess I took it for granted. I've never been to any other school before."

"Back when I was in elementary school, muggle school for little kids, before I got my letter here, you could hear the classrooms in the hallway and the hallway in the classrooms. It could get hectic sometimes, especially if you were taking a test and some other kids were messing around in the halls."

"I didn't even know they put a charm on the classrooms," Nikki said awkwardly. Lily was acting so calm, yet Nikki was pretty sure that she had betrayed her in the worst way possible and that there was no coming back from that. Needless to say Nikki was a bit confused.

"I read it in 'Hogwarts: A History.' It's a good book you can borrow it."

Nikki was shocked by this offering. Did Lily still want to be her friend? Was it possible that Lily could look past this and forgive her? "I'd like that," Nikki said with a slight smile as she peeked at Lily only to find Lily peeking at her.

"Alice thinks I should forgive you and that we should all go back to being friends," Lily said softly while returning to look at James and Sirius. Sirius' head was hung in shame and James looked dark and menacing.

"I hope someday you can, but I understand if you can't. I don't know if I could," Nikki admitted honestly. It was silent for a while so Nikki just watched the boys. James' raged seemed to die out literally deflating him. His shoulders slumped. His arms fell weakly to his side and he hung his head in defeat. Sirius started talking moving his hands rapidly as if explaining something.

"I think I forgave you when I saw your tears," Lily's voice startled Nikki. Lily was speaking again before Nikki had even comprehended her first statement, "I'd like to start over, if you want to?"

The boys in the empty classroom hugged as Nikki processed what Lily was saying. "I'd like that," Nikki admitted smiling at Lily who was smiling at her.

Lily faced forward again and said, "Looks like they've made up too," pointing at James and Sirius who were walking towards them with silly grins on their faces.

Looking up at James and Sirius smiling and laughing together, Nikki knew that everything was going to be ok. She looked back at Lily and smiled again, "looks like it."

TBLPoS

A/N: Here it is! I may do a short epilogue for this story, but that is only if people want me to write it. I hope you liked the story and if this is my only story that you have read that you will check out some of my other ones. : )


	12. Make New Friends but Keep the Old

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize isn't mine besides I am a poor college student who owns nothing so suing me would be pointless.

TBLPoS

Make New Friends but Keep the Old

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Dinner the next night was normal, on the surface. The students were all at their respective tables chatting away about the day past and to come. Girls were giggling, students stuffing themselves, and the older teens flirting over the tentacle tarts: this was all normal. What wasn't normal though, was the gathering of Gryffindor's at the end of their table. It wasn't strange for students to get together, but it was for this group to willingly engage with each other. Remus, Sirius, James, Peter, Frank, Alice, Lily, and Nikki were all laughing together as if they had been getting along for ages instead of brawling in the hallways. It wasn't strange for some of these people to hang out or for these members to be social in smaller groups, but all together and nicely – that was unheard of. The fact that the conversation within the group was so natural and mundane, just added to the oddness of the situation.

"I'm pretty sure that I failed that charms test today," Nikki said dropping her head on the table.

"I can help you," Lily said as she popped a bit of cooked carrot into her mouth, "charms is my best subject."

"Thanks," Nikki said smiling slightly. Sirius rubbed Nikki's back before turning back to his Cornish pasty. James' eyes narrowed and he continued to stare at Sirius.

"What was that about?" James asked Sirius staring into the top of his head.

Sirius looked up at James with a bite halfway to his mouth, "What?" James tilted his head to Nikki, "I don't know what you mean?"

"Are you jeopardizing my Quidditch season?"

Sirius looked shocked, "What? Of course not."

"Wait what are you talking about," Alice peeped from her spot by Frank on the other side of Sirius.

"Apparently, Sirius and Nikki are dating. Is that true?" James questioned.

Everyone turned to stare at the possible couple. "Yes," "No," they answered respectively.

Nikki looked at Sirius with wide eyes when she heard him say yes, "Are we?"

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck nerviously, "Well I mean if you want to .. do you wanna be?"

"I thought that you didn't want to because of … everything we talked about," she finished vaguely.

The group sat in anticipation for a few seconds before Alice burst out, "Oh my god you're dating! I can't handle the tension. You like her; she likes you. Done, dating. Merlin, and I thought I was bad when it came to this stuff."

"I don't think your bad at this stuff," Frank said as he gave Alice a peck on the head. Her face lit up and she blushed prettily.

James killed the moment interjecting, "So you are! Well since you went and did exactly what I said not to do, you better not break up or I swear to Merlin I will jinx you so badly that we have to use our replacement beater."

Sirius smiled realizing that James wasn't being fully serious, "don't worry mate we're good." He wrapped his arm around Nikki's shoulders and smiled brightly at James, who tried to keep a stern face.

Lily threw a bit of her roll at Sirius, "God, you're all so severe. Lighten up, it's almost time for dessert." Chimes rang out signaling the end of dinner. Lily grabbed James' hand as the food disappeared.

TBLPoS

A/N: Here is just a quick, short, happy epilogue to end the story. Hope you enjoy it and please review. : )


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